okay, I have no idea were to start, i want to lose weight HEALTHILY this time, i dont just want to stop eating and purge everything I eat because that is what i used to do but i have NO IDEA how to stay healthy and lose weight at the same time
can anyone give he some suggestions?

The thing is, if you are already a healthy weight for your size, there is no such thing as HEALTHY weight loss, because by definition any weight you lose will be unhealthy.

If you want tips on healthy weight loss you can browse around the site and find suggestions about eating as many calories as you can, weight training to build muscle, developing your aerobic fitness and so on. Thing is though, I don't think that's what you are really looking for.

At 5'6" and 136 pounds you have a BMI of 21.9, which is well within the recommended 20-25 range. If you were to lose weight to 100 lb, you would have a BMI of 16.1, which by any definition is way underweight. Did you know that one of the fashion centres (Spain or Italy, can't remember which) has banned models on their catwalk who have a BMI of less than 18 because it portrays an unhealthy image?

We are all concerned about people who visit this site who appear to be developing or already have an eating disorder. You are a really healthy weight for your height at the moment. Please don't do anything to jeopardise your health.

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Wagon? What do you mean wagon? This is life, not a wagon. You can't fall off life. Get out there and LIVE!

Try to eat lots of vegies, whole grains, fruit, sea food and lots of water. you want to be active every day to keep your metabolism up. Im glad that you want to do this the healthy way. I know that being bolemic is probably hard to get over, so I am glad that you are not wanting to do that any more. Please dont let it get too far tho. 100lbs is pretty small for your height. I know that's not what you were here looking for, but we are just trying to help you be as healthy as possible. good luck in your journey.

__________________ Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness. - Edward Stanley, the Earl of Derby, 1873

Ok, so 120 is just under a BMI of 20, which is much healthier. Your goal weight says 100, so that's what people here are looking at when they say not to lose any more weight.

I get that you would be happier at a slightly lower weight than you are now. Like HVEEK said, lots of whole foods (not too processed), try and cut down on sodium which will make you retain fluid and appear heavier, and a healthy amount of aerobic and weight lifting exercise is a good place to start.

Maybe begin by tracking everything you are eating at the moment and focusing on eating healthier. Pick one thing at a time (more water, for example) and try that for a couple of weeks. Then the next time work on getting your 5 serves of vegetables a day. Specific suggestions are hard - I don't know what you are doing at the moment and you may already eat lots of veges and drink lots of water. So take these with a grain of salt.

Good luck with your journey!

__________________

Wagon? What do you mean wagon? This is life, not a wagon. You can't fall off life. Get out there and LIVE!

also, take a multi vitamin every day, and maybe some fish oil for the omega's. since you are vegetarian, make sure you get lots of beans. beans are awesome because they are high in protein and fiber and low in fat. the perfect food! I wish i could be vegetarian, but i like fish, and turkey too much

__________________ Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness. - Edward Stanley, the Earl of Derby, 1873

Perhaps your issue isn't so much your weight, but definition? I gather from your initial post that you may be recovering from a previous eating disorder? (If not, my apologies, but that was the impression I received.) One of my closests friends is recovering from ED, and I know that for her, "losing weight" is playing with fire, focusing on a number kicks in her compulsive need for control. Instead, she chooses to focus on things like increasing the amoutn fo weight she can lift, or making healthier food choices. They help her to lose weight, but not focus on it.

As for going about this in a healthy manner- are you exercising? If not, start. You need a good balance of cardio and strength training to keep your body at optimum health. Perhaps muscle tonign will also help with the desire to lose weight? (I've experienced that untoned muscle appears to be more unattractive than fat) As a vegetarian, do you eat any animal products? Fish, eggs, etc? Make sure that you are getting a good source of protein with each meal. And a multivitamin is a good idea. Perhaps you can post a typical day's meals and we can make suggestions from there?

There is sooo much information out there about health and weight loss ... how do you choose? what the heck is right?
Everybody knows for sure that we can lose weight if we stop eating. That's definite. That's for sure.
But other than that?

When in doubt or confused .. we all revert to past practices. Lots overeat ... some under eat and purge.

BUT Anarexik has us now

There's a couple of threads here about breakfast and lunch. You'll find lots of wonderful healthy choices. In fact you won't have to think of something for weeks, there's so many good ideas.

I'm going to recommend the vegetarian threads, the whole foods threads and a poster called Glory87. If you have trouble finding any of that ... just let us know ... we'll help you.

Good for you for wanting to learn to eat in a healthy way, because a lot of maintaining a good weight has to do with eating properly.

Because of your history, you'll probably need to plan out your meals and snacks, so that you always know when and what you'll be eating. This can keep you from feeling afraid to eat, or from eating too much.

One good balance of food groups is the Zone percentages, namely 30% protein, 40% carbohydrate, and 30% fat. Those are percentages of calories. Some of the computer trackers, like FitDay, show you percentages as well as calories. A vegetarian sometimes has trouble eating enough protein without sending carbohydrates too high, but it can be done. If you can change to eat fish and/or chicken, that can help with the protein.

The general guideline is to make sure your average calories don't go below 1200 per day. That's because it's very hard to get enough nutrients below that level. (Some medically supervised programs go below that, but the clients have to check in every week with the clinic to make sure they're OK.)

Do you exercise regularly? That's often a good way to make sure you lose less muscle, which can be a problem. Muscle is what burns fat, so you want to keep your muscles healthy.

If you exercise 3 times a week, then you could start right around 1600 calories per day and see how that goes. You may feel that that's a lot of food! But it may work. If after 2 weeks you are not losing, you can drop to 1500 calories per day. These are averages, of course. And see how that goes.

Healthy weight loss is not really rapid. A rate of 1 to 2 pounds per week is healthy. Any more than that for an extended period could mean that you're losing too much muscle and other tissue along with fat.

Anarexik - it sounds to me like it's not so much your WEIGHT that is bothering you, but that you don't like how your body looks. Is that more accurate?

I would really strongly suggest that you look into weight training. Pick up either Body for Life or The New Rules of Lifting For Women. These are GREAT books that talk about eating a healthy diet, working out hard, and reshaping your body using weights and exercise.

I suspect that if you lift weights and work out, your body will reshape itself. You may lose a little more weight, but mostly you'll develop the look you want and will feel better about yourself.

I know that my body changed DRASTICALLY when I started lifting weights. I was shocked - I had no idea. But I feel like I look better now at 160 than I ever did when I weighed 120 and was skinny and flabby. Don't get me wrong - I still hope to get back into the 120s some day - but I will be a fit and strong 120 and will look amazing.

Come visit the Exercisers area of 3FC and you'll get tons of good informaiton on working out and eating healthily to support your workouts.

(And I would also suggest that you ask about having your screen name changed - it does give people the wrong impression)